Catamenial pad holder



Dec. 31, 1935. R. E. BENNETT 2,026,158

CATAMENIAL PAD HOLDER Filed Jan. 2, 1934 741 i la e integral.

Patented Dec. 3l, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE aozaiss CATAMENIAL PAD nomma non E. Bennett, New York, N." Y. Application January 2,1934, ser-iam. '104,968

iz' claim. (ci. 12s-'290i This invention relates to sanitary garments and more particularly to a catamenial pad holder and has for its principal object the provision of a sanitary pad holder that assures lcertain protection to the body and garments from stains and yet is easy and comfortable to the wearer.

Still another object is the provision. of a. pad

holder which will serve as a shield for the edges of the pad and thus prevent chafing of the body.

A particular object of the invention is a new method of making a pad holder so as to give it a natural form fit; another result of this new methcd is the provision of a holder which will positively prevent the expulsion of the padduring use and which will retain the pad even tho stretched to the body and'in which the edges will not curl or turn back in use.

There have appeared on the market from time to time for many years pad holders of various kinds but due to the method of making or of the design these prior holders have been faulty in one or more respects for example, their efficiency was only temporary in that they did not prevent staining in case the pad became saturated, or the pad was expelled from the holder, or the edges of the opening would curl back and cause a chafing. When the wearer attempted to cure these defects by stretching the garment tighter on the body it increased the discomfort by what is termed Stringing, i. e., the holder and pad are pulled into a narrow strip which is very irritating and highly inefficient. It is another object of my invention to prevent this stringing effect and to provide means for holding the pad in its original broad comfortable shape whether the holder is worn tight or loose.

` Other objects of the invention will be apparent in the claims and following description when considered with the drawing;

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the finished garment containing a pad partly in position.

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view of the holder before welding.

Figure 4 shows the several parts of the holder before assembly.

As will be seen in Figures 1 and 2 the holder consists of a tubular pouch III preferably of soft rubber having two stiifened ends II and I2 and upper and lower reaches I4 and I5 preferably not The upper reach or cover has a narrow central opening I5 with rounded ends I1, said cover also having slots I8 and I9 in the reinforced portions 20 and 2l; the slots I8 preferably have pieces.

saw tooth edges in Iorder to hold the ends of the pad more securely. The reinforcements 2l, as shown in Figure 4, are preferably pieces of fabric but may be sheets of a stiffer grade of' rubber 23' or any other material which will stien the 5 ends and prevent them from curling when in use, i. e., they keep the pad spread in a flat comfortable shape. The reinforced ends are secured together preferably only at the sides 24 and 25 thereby providing an'opening 26 forgiving access to the 10 ends 21 of the pad 28 making it easy to insert these pad ends thru the slots I8 and I9 and tuck these ends back under the main body of the pad. The central opening I6', which affords necessary local contact of the pad 28 with the 15 Indentations 35 (Figure 1) or fasteners 36 (Figure 3) may be provided for attaching the holder to the usual belt or other supporting means.

The preferred method of making Vthe pad 25 holder is as follows: First, blanks I5 of uniform size are cut from sheets of soft rubber, these sheets preferably are oversize in width and breadth. The elongated, somewhat elliptical, openings I5 are then cut in half of the blanks. 'I'he margins 30 of these openings as cut are slack because of the softness of the rubber so in order to cure this as well as to reinforce the edge I cold weld to the margin a strip 33 also of soft rubber. During the welding process the margin of the cover (but 35 not the strip) is fluted as shown at 32 which nutlng not only puckers the opening, i. e., reduces the length of its periphery but also reduces the length of the cover piece I4 as shown in Figure 3. The third step consists in welding the pieces of 40 fabric 23 to the inner sides of the ends of the two Altho this is referred to as the third step, it is obvious that it may be performed as the first step or at any timebefore the slots Il and I9 are cut and before the flnal step of weld- 45 ing the upper and lower parts together. In carryingout the flnal step it is necessary to stretch the reinforced upper piece Il luntil-...it is again the same length as the lower piece and then while maintaining this relation a die of the 50 size of the outline of the finished article is used to press the margins together making a cold weld and at the same time trimming the holder to the desired size. It will be noted in Figure 1 that the welded margin is relatively broad at thev sides of the fabric linings and very narrow along the central portion of the pouch as shown at 25' in Figure 2; it will also be noted that the ends are preferably not welded but are left open forthe purpose pointed out. When released from the die the tension in the upper reach caused by the puckering of the aperture makes the tube pouch and curl slightly, thus giving the holder the desirable form iit that renders the garment so comfortable to the wearer and prevents expelling of the pad while in use.

Altho I have described the method as using individual blanks it is to be understood that gangs of upper blanks I@ and gangs of lower blanks l may be prepared and then welded together by the use of multiple di'es or other means, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or the holder may be made from a single blank or series of single blanks, the piece l representing one half and the piece l5 the other half of each blank. It is also to be understood that the entire periphery of the aperture. or only apart thereof may be puckered in any desirable manner, the fiuting being mentioned merely as the preferred way of carrying out this feature of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A sanitary pad holder of soft elastic material comprising an elongated tube for receiving a catamenial pad and having a central elongated opening for exposing the pad to the person, the margin of said opening being uted to lessen the eective perimeter ci the opening whereby preventing expulsion of the pad when the holder is in use and preventing curling of the margin thereby assuring comfort for the wearer. 2. A sanitary pad holder of soft sheet rubber comprising a tubular member having an elongated slot in one wall parallel to the tubular axis,

said slot having around its margin a.plurality of flutes for reducing the perimeter of the opening, a reinforcing strip of rubber welded to the iuted margin to retain the puckered formation, and a layer of fabric welded toeach end of the tubular member for reinforcing said ends.

3. The method of making a sanitary pad holder which consists in cutting an elongated aperture in a rectangular sheet of soft rubber of a chosen size, puckering the marginal periphery 'of the aperture, Welding a reinforcing strip of soft rubber to the puchered margin, stretching the sheet to decrease the puckering, and welding its long edges while so stretched to the side edges.

4. The method of making a sanitary pad holder of soft sheet rubber which consists in cutting elongated pieces from a sheet of rubber, cutting an elongated aperture in one of the sheets, puckering the margin of the aperture, welding a soft rubber stay to the puckered margin, welding a reinforcing member across each end of the apertured sheet, cutting transverse slits in said ends, stretching the apertured sheet to its orig=` inal length and superimposing it on a nonstretched imperforate sheet and welding and trimming the long edges of the pieces while maintaining the tension in the apertured strip.

5. In the method oi making a sanitary pad holder the steps of cutting an elongated aperture in a sheet of soft rubber, said aperture being rounded at one end, treating the edges of the aperture so that the perimeter thereof is reduced an appreciable amount and forming the sheet into a tube with the aris of the aperture parallel to that of the tube.

6. A sanitary pad holder comprising a attened tubular member of soft sheet rubber, the ends of the member being reinforced with a fabric lining on the inner surface, transverse slots in each reinforced end for receiving the ends of a 5 pad, one of the dat sides of the member having an elongated aperture therein parallel to the axis of the member, and resilient means around the edge of the aperture to maintain the perimeter at less than its natural length.

'7. In a sanitary pad holder of tubular form, a soft rubber cover having an aperture therein for permitting the pad to contact the wearer, said aperture being puckered to maintain a tension in the cover whereby the ends and sides of the holder are drawnv toward each other. l

8. A device of the character described to be used with a waist, encircling portion, comprising a holder detachably connected to said portion and including an inner and outer wall forming therebetween a chamber and the inner wall having an elongated opening to permit a pad to be inserted in the chamber with a portion of the pad projecting from the chamber, said inner wall having slots to permit the attaching ends of the pad to be laced therethru with the ends coniined between the inner and outer walls, stiffening plates secured to the inner face of the inner Wall and having slots alining with the iirst named slots`,'certain of said second-named slots having 30 serrated walls to form teeth adapted to bite into attaching straps of the pad after being laced thru the slots.

9. A device of the character described comprising a holder having a chamber opening outwardly thru one Wallthereof to receive a pad and permit a portion of the latter to project from the chamber, said holder having pairs of spaced slots, plates secured to the holder within the chamber and having slots alining with the slots of the holder and teeth on walls of certain of said second-named slots to bite into the pad when the end portions thereof are passed thru the slots.

l0. In the method of making a sheet rubber article, the step of cutting an aperture in a sheet of soft rubber, reducing the perimeter of the aperture in the plane of the sheet, and forming the sheet into a tube with the reduced perimeter aperture between the ends of the tube whereby when finished the reduced perimeter of the aperture causes the tube to curl slightly.

l1. The method of claim l0 plus the step of resiliently holdingv the aperture margin so reduced, and in stretching the aperture perimeter while'forming ,the sheet into the tube whereby 55? therewill be a constant yielding urge to resist chang/e in the length of the aperture perimeter.

12. A sanitary pad holder of soft elastic material comprising an elongated centrally aper tured upper wall, and an elongated lower wall of greater normal lengththan the upper Wall, said walls ming secured together at their long sides thereby forming a tube-like pouch with open` ends, at stifening means secured to the ends '65 of the walls whereby the ends of the tube tend to remain ilat, the stiiened ends of one of the walls having transverse slots therein for receiving and holding the ends of a sanitary pad, and means at the ends of both walls for connecting to a sup- 7g porting girdle.

' ROZE E. BENNETT. 

